Management and sustainability dilemmas in Latin America: introduction

Purpose This article introduces readers to the Special Issue (SI, 34-1) of ARLA, edited (not exclusively) with the best papers of the Academy of Management's Specialized Conference, scheduled for April 2020 in Mexico City. The COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation, but the expert peer review and editorial work continued, to contribute to the emerging literature on Latin American Management and Sustainability. Design/methodology/approach Guest editors contributed their expertise based on required editorial processes and focused literature reviews on Management and Sustainability. Findings There are large management and sustainability challenges to Latin American practitioners and researchers, resulting in an increasingly urgent need to systematically document similarities and differences in the fields of Management and Sustainability. It is so because the region has been affected as few others before, during and after the pandemic. Thus, this issue summarizes the literature, presents eight new studies and offers suggestions for future research. Research limitations/implications Management and sustainability in Latin America are wide subjects, with different dimensions and issues. This is a specific contribution that leaves much ground to be covered in the different subfields of the area, in research methodologies and conclusions. Originality/value An agenda for advancing the field of management and sustainability in Latin America, highlighted by the COVID-19 disruption; additionally, eight of the most advanced research in the field are presented, chosen from two tracks of a large number of contributions to a recent specialized conference organized by the Academy of Management.